Zebre 7 – 52 Connacht

2 years ago

Connacht secured five Champions Cup points in Parma today to go top of pool 2. Pat Lam’s men scored eight tries in a clinical performance on the road.

On his full debut, wing Stacey Ili scored a hat trick while Jack Carty, Cian Kelleher (2), and Conor Carey also crossed the whitewash to add to a penalty try. Craig Ronaldson kicked five from six conversion attempts with replacement Shane O’Leary slotting over the last two points of the game.

Connacht led 14 – 0 at the break after a hectic period that saw Sean O’Brien sin binned on 28 minutes followed by Zebre hooker seeing red for a bite on Quinn Roux. The hosts had 50 minutes left to play with just 14 men but managed to get over for a try after the hour mark with their replacement hooker Tomasso D’Apice crashing over from close range, fullback Edoardo Padovani converting.